About Willam J. Lawson, Jr.
Becoming a lawyer was my calling. I was aware of this from an early age. In college I took a survey matching occupations interest to the person who took the survey. The results indicted that my interest lay in the areas of social studies , teaching and law. I became a social studies teacher and a lawyer. Could the test have been that accurate? Was it a case of a self-fulfilling prophecy? I began teaching in Livonia Public Schools and started evening law school classes at Wayne State University in the Fall of 1966. After an initial six week of doing both, I decided to focus on my teaching career and withdrew from the law school. In due course I achieved a Masters in Education.
I was working on a Ph.D. in Education at University of Michigan in 1972 , when I awoke one morning and announced to my wife , “I have to go back to law school.”. My teaching career spanned 25 years in Livonia Public Schools. While teaching Psychology and going to law school in the evenings ( for four years, graduating in1976) , I developed a law course for high school students. That led to a Federal grant to prepare others to teach law to high school students. After passing the Bar Exam I became an attorney in November of 1976. Because I was teaching during the day, going to court to handle litigation and criminal or divorce cases was out of the question. For that reason I concentrated on developing a practice related to estate planning, trusts , wills and probate- things that could be done late afternoon and evenings.
Having pursued both careers since 1976, I retired from education in 1991 and have focused on the practice of law. My areas of practice are still estate planning, trusts, trust administration, probate, real estate, and LLC start-ups. I have added facilitative mediation which is a relatively new area of law. The purpose there is to settle disputes and end the “bleeding” for the parties involved. The “rush” that a successful mediation provides is amazing. It is the best of law.
My daughter, Mia Lawson, has passed the Bar Exam and will be joining me in my practice. What a delight that will be! We will work together on our client files and I can remain of counsel even after I retire- whenever that will occur. I am blessed to have had two very satisfying careers. In the December 2009 edition of Detroit Business Magazine I am listed among the “Top Lawyers” in Southeast Michigan in the areas of Estate Planning, Real Estate, Wills and Probate - Click to View Article. It is vital to me that I earn the trust of my clients. I want them to leave my office feeling that they have been heard, respected, and relieved of the burdens which brought them to me.
Click to view Mr. Lawson's credentials.
